


Had to Go Away to Find Home

by 5pm, hazelNuts



Category: Supernatural, Wayward Sisters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, First Meetings, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Gore, POV Claire Novak, Scars, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 05:31:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16235156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5pm/pseuds/5pm, https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazelNuts/pseuds/hazelNuts
Summary: Claire knows she's a bad-ass. She's a Hunter who's fought Werewolves, Vampires, Demons, Ghosts, even Angels, so when a girl hops in her car on her way back from a hunt, and holds a knife to her throat, ordering her to do as she's told, she listens. She's not gonna go out by getting stabbed with a rusty paring knife. But she can't drive all night, and when they stop at a motel she finds out there's a lot more to the girl than meets the eye.With a girl that can walk to other worlds in her sleep, her evil double on the loose, and a dead Vampire in the boot of the car, things are going to get very interesting.Or: A canon-divergent AU where Claire is the one who meets Kaia and introduces her to the bigger supernatural world.





	Had to Go Away to Find Home

**Author's Note:**

> If you think I forgot any tags, please let me know in the comments.
> 
> This was written for the [Wayward Sisters Big Bang](https://waywardsistersbigbang.tumblr.com/). Fic by me, and the gorgeous art by [5pm](https://five-p-m.tumblr.com/) (check their AO3 for the art posts, and leave them some kudos and comments!)

 

Claire almost has a heart attack when something human-shaped jumps out of the trees and in front of her car. Her first instinct is to run it over—this late at night, it’ll probably be a carjacker, a Vampire, or both—but then her headlights hit the terrified features of what looks like a human girl. Slamming onto the breaks, she jerks at the wheel, narrowly avoiding running the girl over. When the car has skidded to a stop, the smell of burning rubber making its way into the car, she leans across the gearbox and opens the passenger side door. The girl jumps in, never looking at Claire, keeping her eyes on the treeline instead. Before the girl can pull her door fully closed, Claire is already pushing the gas pedal down as far as it will go. She has no time to deal with whatever is chasing the girl. Technically, she doesn’t have time to deal with the girl either, but what is she supposed to do? Leave the girl on the side of the road? Let her get attacked? She didn’t become a Hunter to leave people stranded because helping them isn’t convenient for her at the moment.

‘You okay?’ she asks after a couple minutes of silence.

She expects a monosyllabic answer at most, a terse nod or shake of the head, or even more silence. What she does not expect is a knife being waved in her face.

‘Do as I tell you. No questions,’ the girl orders, waving the knife in the direction of Claire’s throat for emphasis.

Claire sneaks an assessing glance at her passenger. The girl is small, a lightweight, and not holding the knife properly. Taking the knife from her and kicking her out of the car wouldn’t be too hard. The knife is small and rusty looking, she slices her apples with bigger, but the girl is scared and high on adrenaline, making her jittery and unpredictable. It might be safer to just do as she’s told. The adrenaline won’t last forever.

So Claire nods, keeps her eyes on the road, and keeps driving. She turns when the girl tells her to, takes the exits pointed out to her, drives until they arrive at a motel just outside of Springfield. It’s not too far out of her way back home to Sioux Falls, which is good.

‘Get out,’ the girl says. She pulls the keys out of the ignition before Claire can even get her hands off the wheel. ‘Slowly.’

Claire opens her door and gets out, planning her next move. If the girl gets out on the passenger side, it’ll make things so easy. She’ll slide across the hood to the other side of the car and hit the girl with the still open door. If that doesn’t work, she can just hit her with her fist. If the girl gets away, the lack of car keys won’t be a problem. She’ll hotwire it and drive a dozen or so miles to another motel, or maybe just all the way back home.

She tenses her muscles for the jump across the car, but then the knife pricks into her back. She turns her head and sees the girl halfway across the gearbox. The girl prods her again, and with an annoyed huff, Claire takes a step forward to make room for the girl to clamber across the driver’s seat and out of the car. Her knife never leaves Claire’s back.

The girl’s smart, Claire has to admit to herself.

‘Where’s your stuff?’ the girl asks.

‘Backseat.’ The trunk’s a little full of other stuff, but it’s probably best to keep that quiet for now.

The girl opens the backseat door and Claire grabs her bags.

‘You’re going to get us a room,’ the girl says, steering Claire towards the office with the knife. ‘If you make a wrong move, say the wrong word, both you and whoever’s behind that desk _will_ die.’

Claire stomps towards the office. She’s annoyed with herself, but mostly with the girl for being human. Hunters protect humans, sometimes from other humans, but mostly from the things that go bump in the night. And it’s obvious this girl needs protection. Something chased her. Something that scared her so bad that she’s still wired from adrenaline, even after a drive of over an hour. Claire has no idea how she’s not curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth in a corner. It would be the normal response.

The guy at the front desk barely looks up from his magazine when they walk in. He takes her money, hands her a key, then waves them away. She tries to look over the counter to see what’s so interesting about what he’s reading, but a prod of the knife in her back has her turning around and walking back out into the cold night air.

Their room is at the far end of the single-story building, giving Claire plenty of opportunity to look around. The motel is small and a little rundown, paint peeling from the doors, weeds sprouting up from the cracks in the pavement. There are two other cars and a motorcycle in the parking lot. One of those will probably belong to the clerk, so only one or two of the other rooms will be taken. Which is good. If whoever, or whatever, was chasing the girl manages to catch up, there will be less of a panic with so few people, which means slimmer chances of death by stupidity.

Their room is as faded as the outside of the motel; the paint, the wallpaper, the too often washed sheets (although it’s a good sign that they are being washed). The carpet might have been blue once, but over the years it’s turned to a dirty grey The two beds are separated by a small side-table that has a small lamp, a digital clock that would have been outdated when the motel opened, and an old phone with a rotary dial. The furniture is held together by an impressive amount of nails and duct-tape. At least it looks and smells more or less clean.

Claire steps into the room, her stomach muscles jumping only a little when she hears the door fall closed behind the girl, and drops her bags by one of the beds. ‘Now what?’

‘I… I don’t know,’ the girl says. She’s starting to look a little less amped up. Maybe it’s because they’re in a confined space with only one exit, or maybe the adrenaline is finally wearing off. ‘I have to think.’

‘If you’re planning on tying me up, you should at least buy me dinner first,’ Claire jokes. She turns her head to add a grin and an eyebrow waggle, hoping to convey there are no hard feelings. There are hard feelings, of course, but if the girl thinks there aren’t, she might lower her guard and–

‘Let me think!’ the girl bites out. The knife presses harder into Claire’s back. Her jacket better not be ruined.

‘Okay. Relax,’ Claire says, holding up her hands placatingly. ‘Look, I’m not gonna run away or hurt you, so how about we get some sleep?’

‘No. I can’t… No sleep.’ The knife at Claire’s back trembles.

‘You want me to keep watch? We could–‘

‘No!’ the girl shouts, panic edges into her voice. ‘I can’t sleep. If I sleep, I dream. And then…’

The girl’s breathing turns quick and heavy, and maybe Claire’s an asshole for taking advantage of the girl’s burgeoning panic attack, but the girl is holding her at knifepoint, so technically she started it.

Claire turns, grabs the girl’s wrist, twists her arm behind her back, then squeezes until the knife falls to the floor. The girl struggles, tries to scratch and kick at her, but Claire grabs her other wrist and holds them up behind her back so the girl has to bend over if she doesn’t want her arms pulled out of their sockets. Keeping a tight grip on the girl’s wrists with one hand, Claire pulls off her belt. She spins the girl around so her arms are in front of her, and binds her wrists with the belt. The girl pulls free from Claire’s grip and tries to run, but Claire quickly swipes the legs out from under her.

‘You’re not going anywhere,’ she growls as she pulls the girl up and deposits her in one of the chairs. ‘Not until you explain why the hell you held a knife to my throat.’

The girl moves to get up, but Claire pulls one of her own knives. She doesn’t point it at the girl, just holds it, the blade gleaming even in the low light. The girl sits back down, her jaw tight, eyes shifting from Claire’s knife, to the beds, to the door.

‘I’ve got time.’ Claire shrugs. She grabs the other chair and sets it down in front of the girl. It creaks ominously when she sits down and leans back with fake nonchalance; she doesn’t think it will hold at first, but then the wood, duct-tape, and nails settle. ‘So why don’t you want to sleep?’

And that’s when she sees it. A familiar flash of fear in the girl’s eyes. She’s seen it in her own in the mirror, seen it on people who just realized their life has changed in the worst possible way. The girl isn’t afraid for herself, she’s afraid _of_ herself. Clair felt it when she’d started turning into a werewolf. The werewolf thing went away, but that fear never quite left. She still remembers that hunger, that empty feeling inside of her. Sometimes she thinks it’s still there.

‘What are you?’ Claire asks, tightening her grip on the knife.

The girl’s gaze snaps to her. Her brow contracts as she focusses on Claire’s face, really looking at her for the first time. She opens her mouth, closes it again, hesitates, then finally says, ‘A Dreamwalker.’

 _Fuck_ , she has no idea what the hell that is. She pulls out her phone. ‘Don’t move. Don’t make a sound,’ she warns as she searches for the right number and puts it on speaker. It rings twice before it’s picked up.

‘ _Claire?_ ’ Sam asks. ‘ _Are you okay?_ ’

‘Just dandy,’ Claire says, rolling her eyes. Why does everyone always assume she’s in trouble? Okay she kind of is, but she’s got it handled. ‘I just have a question for you.’

‘ _Shoot._ ’

This is why she called Sam. Sure he worries, but Castiel would’ve insisted on flying over, and Dean would’ve asked her a million questions before she could get to her own. Plus, aside from Castiel, Sam’s the most lore-savvy.

‘What exactly is a Dreamwalker?’ she asks.

‘ _I have to check. Is it urgent?_ ’

‘A little bit.’

Sam sighs. ‘ _Of course it is. Hold on._ ’ A chair scrapes across the floor. A minute later, several books hit the table with a heavy _thud_. Then the sound of Sam’s fingers flying over the keyboard at lightning speed. ‘ _Okay, from what I can tell, Dreamwalkers are like some type of psychic. They can visit other worlds in their dreams_.’

‘Like heaven and hell?’

‘ _No._ ’ Pages turning and more typing. ‘ _I think they mean alternate universes. Wow, this is actually really interesting. If this is true, it might prove the multi_ _–_ ‘

‘Sam,’ Claire interrupts him before he nerds out too much. ‘Are they dangerous?’

‘ _From what I can tell, no more than you or me. Probably less._ ’

‘Thanks.’ She hangs up before Sam can ask her any more questions, and stuffs her phone back in her pocket. She ignores the buzzing that is undoubtedly Sam calling her back.

‘Is he right?’ she asks the girl.

‘Yes.’ The girl nods. ‘But… How did he know all that stuff?’

Claire points at the girl with her knife. ‘You’re the one tied up, and I’m the one with the knife, which means that you answer the questions that I ask. You really visit other worlds in your sleep?’

‘Just one,’ the girl says. She curls in on herself, just a little, glances at the door, then focusses on Claire again. ‘The Bad Place.’

The words are barely a whisper. The girl had come down from her terror, shifting more towards anger since Claire tied her up, but now she’s looking as scared as she did when she jumped in front of Claire’s car.

‘What’s in this Bad Place?’

‘Monsters.’

‘There’s monsters here too.’

The girl raises her eyebrows and snorts. ‘You gonna tell me about the scary man who will lure me into his car with candy?’

‘You think you’re the only one with magic?’ Claire asks. She pulls down the collar of her shirt. ‘Bar fight with a Vampire.’ She leans forward, elbows on her knees, knife dangling from her fingers. ‘And I was a Werewolf for a little while.’

‘I don’t believe in Werewolves,’ the girl says.

‘Most people don’t. Just like most people don’t believe in Dreamwalkers.’

The girl is silent, considering Claire’s words, then says, ‘Are they twenty feet tall, though?’

‘Not that I’ve seen,’ Claire admits. _Fuck_. She really doesn’t want to imagine twenty feet tall Werewolves. ‘So, what happened? What are you running from?’

The girl closes her eyes and shakes her head, and Claire has to lean forward to hear what she’s saying. ‘Things aren’t supposed to be able to follow me out.’ Her voice is a shaky whisper. ‘But this… It… It wasn’t a thing. It was a person.’ The girl looks at Claire, scared and almost pleading, like she’s begging for all this to just be one of her nightmares. ‘It used me to come here. And it… It looks like _me_.’

‘You couldn’t throw it back in or something?’

‘I don’t even know how it followed me!’

Claire leans back again and looks the girl over. She doesn’t look like much, especially in her oversized hoodie and jeans, and muddy sneakers, but appearances aren’t everything. It’s obvious she’s been running for a while. She goes to that Bad Place regularly, and comes back out alive every time. And let’s not forget the girl took her hostage with nothing but a rusty potato peeler. That took some serious guts.

I like her, Claire decides. She shoves her knife back into her boot, and unties the girl. The girl doesn’t move, just sits there, staring at her now unbound wrists.

‘Me and my friends, we know about weird shit,’ Claire explains. ‘We fight the weird shit that hurts people, and we kill it. If you want, we can protect you.’

‘You mean that guy on the phone?’ the girl asks. She looks stunned, blinking at Claire in confusion.

‘He’s one of my friends. But I was thinking about someone else. She helped me, too.’

The girl looks down at her hands and tugs at her sleeves over them. ‘I don’t want you, or your friends, to get hurt because of me,’ she says.

Claire leans forward to catch the girl’s eyes and smiles reassuringly. ‘It’s what we do. We help people.’

‘With weird shit,’ the girl adds, relaxing a little, a small smile playing on her lips.

Claire winks. ‘Exactly.’

‘Just like that?’ the girl asks. ‘You’re going to help me? After the whole holding you at knifepoint thing.’

‘Well… There is something you have to do for me first.’

‘I don’t have any money.’

‘I’m not gonna ask you for money,’ Claire says, then she grins. ‘I have a dead Vampire in the trunk of my car and I need to get rid of it.’

The girl sits up, unmoving, unblinking. ‘What?’

‘Dead Vampire. You need to help me with the body.’

‘Aren’t Vampires already dead?’

Claire shakes her head. ‘It’s more like a virus, transmitted by drinking their blood.’

The girl wrinkles her nose.

‘Yeah. I know. Gross.’ Claire stands up and straightens her jacket. ‘You helping me, or not?’

‘Sure.’ The girl stands up and follows Claire out of the room. ‘I’m Kaia, by the way.’

‘Claire.’

As they walk across the parking lot, Claire checks to make sure nobody can see them. All the other rooms are dark, curtains closed, and the office is too far away. They should be okay. She opens the trunk of her car.

‘Oh my god,’ Kaia groans, putting her hand over her nose and mouth. ‘That is disgusting.’

Claire had done her best to wrap the monster up in garbage bags, but the neck, right where she cut through it, is still visible; the bones and organs, a mess of whites and pinks, showing. She put the head in a plastic bag, which is, unfortunately, see-through. The Vampire’s eyes are staring at them through the sheer plastic.

‘We should hurry, before someone sees us.’ Claire grabs the bag with the head and hooks it on her arm. ‘Or my car starts to smell. You can never really get rid of that dead body-smell.’

‘Dibs on the feet,’ Kaia says. She shoves Claire back so she can grab the bottom of the bag.

‘I’m already carrying the head,’ Claire protests, but lets it go when she sees the greenish tint of Kaia’s face. ‘Fine.’

When the body is out, she slams the trunk closed, wincing at the loud bang in the quiet night. They shuffle across the road, into the woods, as fast as they can. Neither of them has a free hand to carry a flashlight in, making the journey through the trees long and painful as they keep tripping over roots and loose branches. Kaia seems to have an easier time of it than Claire, and Claire wonders what that Bad Place is like that the girl isn’t too fazed about carrying a body through the woods in the middle of the night.

When they’ve walked for almost half an hour, Claire deems it far enough from the road.

‘Now what?’ Kaia asks, dropping her end of the body.

Claire lets go too, and drops the head next to it. ‘Now we make a fire.’

‘Why not bury it?’ Kaia asks. ‘What if someone sees the smoke?’

‘In case it wants to come back,’ Claire says, searching the ground for big enough branches to make a pyre. She should’ve brought her axe. ‘And also because it’s less likely to be found if we burn it.’

‘I thought you said it was dead,’ Kaia squeaks, stepping away from the body.

‘I meant as a Ghost. Monsters are not really supposed to, but’—Claire shrugs—‘you never know.’

‘There’s Ghosts, too. Awesome.’

It takes a while for them to find enough dry wood and leaves to burn the body. Thankfully, Vampire bodies burn fast. Claire sits on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest as she waits for the entire body to burn up. Kaia walks around restlessly until Claire tells her she’s getting on her nerves, and then the girl sits down too.

‘Do you always do this with the monsters you kill?’ Kaia asks.

‘No. Usually, you only have to salt and burn the bones of people who’ve come back as spirits,’ Claire explains. ‘But someone must’ve heard the fight, because the cops were coming. I couldn’t leave a decapitated body there. Especially one that has my fingerprints, and possibly blood, on it.’

‘So this is more about burning evidence than a possible Vampire-Ghost,’ Kaia concludes, raising her eyebrows.

‘Maybe,’ Claire admits with a chuckle.

They don’t talk any more as they wait for the body to burn up, and the fire to burn out. When it’s over, Claire stomps out the glowing embers, and then they bury and scatter the ashes. The hike back to the motel goes a lot faster with Claire being able to use her phone as a flashlight.

Kaia takes the first shower. Claire gives her some clean clothes and toiletries. As Kaia showers, she searches for a place nearby that delivers this late. She orders them a couple pizzas, drinks, and garlic bread. By the time she’s done with her own shower and washed off all the dirt and blood, the food has arrived and Kaia’s set it out on the little table.

As they eat, Claire finally has a chance to really look at Kaia. With the lights on and Kaia more relaxed, she realizes that while the girl isn’t exactly big, she’s not as small as she first thought. She’d made herself seem smaller, hidden in her big sweater, but now Claire can see that they’re almost the same size. Kaia’s skin is a light brown, but her exhaustion has her looking pale and drawn. And though she showered barely half an hour ago, her hair is already exploding into curls around her head. Claire likes it and hates it at the same time. The slightly wild look suits the girl, but it also makes her look like a scared baby deer that Claire really wants to protect.

‘Can I ask you something?’

Kaia shrugs.

‘Do you go to the Bad Place every time you sleep?’

‘Not every time.’

Claire takes another bite of her pizza, chewing slowly as she thinks. ‘Is that where you get the scars from?’

Kaia freezes and tugs at the sleeves of her shirt. ‘Most of them.’

‘Do you disappear when you go to the Bad Place?’ Claire asks. ‘Or is it more like an out-of-body experience?’

Kaia shrugs and sighs. ‘I don’t know how it works. I just know that when I dream, I go to the Bad Place, and when I wake up I’m usually bleeding.’

‘Could you take me with you?’

‘I can’t even take a knife. I’ve tried. Hiding it in my clothes. Holding it when I fall asleep,’ Kaia says, shaking her head. ‘So I doubt I could take a person.’

‘But you took someone back with you.’

Kaia winces. ‘I don’t think that was me. The other me, or whatever it is, did that. It has this… staff.’

‘Magic?’ Claire asks. ‘A Witch?’

‘There’s Witches?’

‘If you go to the mythology and folklore section of a library, that’s basically a Hunter’s reference section,’ Claire says. She can’t help but smile at Kaia’s dumbfounded expression.

‘I’m so not ready for this.’ Kaia pushes her hair back. ‘I can barely deal with the fact that I can visit other worlds in my sleep, let alone Vampires and Werewolves and Witches and Ghosts.’ She leans back in her chair, her dumbfounded expression shifting to one of defeat. ‘Fuck.’

‘Hey,’ Claire says. She takes one of Kaia’s hands and squeezes it. ‘You don’t have to deal with any of the other shit, okay? That’s my job.’

Kaia nods and swallows. She looks so tired, more tired than before. Claire wants to drag her to one of the beds and tuck her in, but that’s not going to work. The fear is still stronger than her exhaustion, and it’ll stay that way if they stay on the topic of things that go bump in the night.

‘Come on,’ Claire says, sliding out of her chair, onto the floor. She grabs her bag and pulls out a pack of playing cards.

Kaia raises her eyebrows.

‘You know how to play Speed?’ Claire asks as she makes herself comfortable on the floor. Or as comfortable as she can get on the worn carpet.

‘I know almost every variation of every card game out there,’ Kaia says, and sits down opposite Claire.

‘Good.’ Claire shuffles and deals the cards. ‘Loser has to clean the trunk from Vampire smell and goo.’

‘Two out of three?’

‘Three out of five.’ Claire pulls her first four cards and waits for Kaia to do the same. ‘Ready?’

Kaia nods, a competitive fire in her eyes.

‘Three, two, one… Go!’

There’s no more time for talking after that, but there’s plenty of laughter and accusations of cheating. Kaia keeps sliding her cards underneath Claire’s, and Claire does her best to knock Kaia’s cards out of her hands. After four rounds, it’s a tie.

‘You’re going down… What’s your last name?’ Claire asks.

‘Nieves. Yours?’

‘Novak.’ Claire smirks, looks at her cards, and looks back up at Kaia, whose eyes are shining, cheeks red from the excitement of the game. She looks almost relaxed, not so weighed down by her nightmares. She looks kinda cute. ‘You’re going down, Nieves.’

‘You wish, Novak.’

Claire counts down, and they’re off. Despite managing to wiggle a few of her cards beneath Kaia’s, she still loses.

‘Nooo!’ she groans. ‘Rematch with a game of Gin? I’ll throw in breakfast.’

‘No way,’ Kaia laughs. ‘I can’t risk losing.’

‘Ugh.’ Claire lets herself fall back onto the floor, then veers back up when she smells the carpet. ‘That’s disgusting.’

Kaia laughs again, but it’s interrupted by a wide yawn.

‘Time for bed,’ Claire decides.

Those three words force the relaxed atmosphere out of the room in an instant. Kaia’s entire body locks up. Her hands pull into her lap, balled into fists.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ Claire begins. She gathers the cards and puts them back in the pack. ‘I think it’s worth it to try to take me with you.’

‘I–‘ Kaia begins, but Claire interrupts. ‘If it doesn’t work, I’ll wake you up. I’ll be lying right beside you.’ She watches as Kaia glances at one of the beds and bites her lip. ‘I promise.’

‘Okay. But the second you realize you haven’t come with me, you wake me up,’ Kaia says. She doesn’t look entirely convinced yet.

‘I promise,’ Claire repeats.

Kaia nods, stands up, and goes to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Claire watches her go, eyeing the girl’s tense shoulders with a frown. She wishes she could do more right now, could give Kaia some kind of guarantee, but until she’s at Jody’s and can do some real research, or ask Sam for more info, this is all she can do.

She changes into the shorts and t-shirt she wears as pyjamas, then waits for Kaia to finish in the bathroom. She takes her time brushing her teeth and braiding her hair, giving herself time to… prepare herself? For what exactly? She rolls her eyes at herself in the mirror and steps back into the main room. The lights are off and Kaia is already under the covers. The room feels a lot more intimate than it had before, and Claire swats down the butterflies that have decided to flutter around her stomach, as she slides in next to Kaia. Their legs bump together in the small single bed, and Claire has to force herself not to jerk back.

‘Now what?’ she whispers into the dark.

‘I don’t know,’ Kaia answers, the blanket moves as she shrugs. After a beat of silence, she suggests, ‘We hold hands?’

‘Right.’ Claire swallows. She carefully moves her hand up and forward, until she feels skin beneath her fingers.

‘That’s my face,’ Kaia huffs.

‘Right. Sorry.’ Claire pulls her hand back and giggles. Fuck, that’s embarrassing. She clears her throat. ‘Where’s your hand?’

‘By the pillow.’

Again, Claire slowly moves her hand up, but this time she has somewhere to aim. She finds Kaia’s arm first, and uses it as a guide to slide her fingers up to Kaia’s hand. Kaia’s hands are smaller than hers, but just as rough from calluses and scars. Claire smiles when their fingers intertwine perfectly, and Kaia’s palm presses warm and firm against her own.

‘Goodnight, Kaia,’ she whispers.

‘Goodnight, Claire.’

~

The room is quiet when Claire wakes up. Not a bird or car makes itself known. All she can hear is her own breath and the rustling of the sheets as she breathes in deeply and stretches her aching muscles. That Vampire took more out of her than she thought. Good thing she had help getting rid of that thing.

Wait…

She had help. _Where the hell is Kaia?_

Claire sits up, eyes falling on the empty space next to her. She reaches out her hand. The sheets are cold. Kaia must be gone for a while. Heart hammering against her ribcage, Claire jumps out of the bed, pulling her knife from where she put it under the pillow. She scans the empty room, first seeing that Kaia’s clothes are gone, then seeing the notepad with the motel’s logo on the table, a pencil next to it.

_Gone to get breakfast and coffee. Took some money out of your wallet. Hope you don_ _’t mind_

_—Kaia_

Breathing out slowly, Claire sits down in one of the chairs. She stays there until her heartbeat is back to normal and the muscles have relaxed, then gets dressed. Kaia isn’t back by the time she’s ready, so she starts cleaning up the room, packing up their things, throwing out the trash. When Kaia still isn’t back after she’s gotten the room pretty much back to how they found it, worry starts creeping up her spine. She checks her watch. It’s still early, a little before 7AM. But what does the fucking time matter, when she has no idea when Kaia left or where she went to get breakfast? Still, that doesn’t mean she can’t go looking for her.

She makes sure her knife is secure in her boot, hesitates, then, just in case, she grabs her gun and shoves it in the back of her jeans. Now armed, she walks to the door with determined strides, pulls it open, and almost bowls over Kaia in her hurry.

‘Hey.’

‘Hi.’

‘Uhm…’ Claire feels caught somehow, and a blush creeps up her cheeks. ‘I was just about to go look for you.’

‘No need. I’m here,’ Kaia says with a smile. She holds up a plain white plastic bag. ‘And I brought sustenance.’

‘Right.’ Claire steps aside to let Kaia through, and follows her to the table. ‘What did you get?’

Kaia starts pulling containers out of the bag. ‘I brought a feast!’ She grins and gestures at the food.

There’s something off about the grin. Claire shakes her head and sits down to the meal. Kaia was exhausted last night, every smile and word, every movement had an edge to it. This grin is probably her real one.

Claire grabs a container and pulls it open, a happy hum escaping her when she finds a stack of thick, delicious pancakes inside. She dives into the bag to hunt for syrup. When she looks up after pouring the syrup onto her food, she finds Kaia looking at her with amusement.

‘A favourite, I gather?’ Kaia asks.

‘They’re pancakes,’ Claire says. ‘They’re everyone’s favourite.’

Kaia chuckles and takes a bite of her toast. She’s pulled her sleeves up to her elbows to keep them from getting into her food, and Claire’s eye fall on the smooth skin of her forearm. Well, not entirely smooth, there’s a couple scars that are definitely smaller than the ones she saw last night. Quickly scanning the girl next to her, Claire notices other things she missed in her relief at Kaia’s coming back safely. Her clothes are different from the ones she wore last night, and much cleaner. And there’s something about the way this person holds herself; Kaia had been hunched over most of the night, curling in on herself protectively, but this girl, this Fake Kaia, is sitting up much taller, shoulders squared, confident.

 _This is what came out of the Bad Place,_ Claire realizes. ‘Shit,’ she mutters before she can stop herself.

‘Everything okay?’ Fake Kaia looks at her questioningly, shoving another piece of toast in her mouth.

‘I promised I’d call Jody. Remember?’ Claire quickly says. ‘Let her know what time we’d be there.’

‘Right.’

‘I’m gonna go do that now, before I forget.’ Claire gets up and walks over to her bag. As she passes behind Fake Kaia, she pulls out her gun and pistol-whips her across the temple.

Fake Kaia crumples, falling out of her chair and landing on the floor with a _thud_. Claire curses herself for leaving all her rope in the car. Time to improvise. She grabs one of the lamps and cuts off the electrical cord. Not as good as rope, but it’ll do for now. The cord is just long enough to bind Fake Kaia’s wrists, so Claire cuts the cord from the tv to bind the ankles. When she’s done, she steps back and looks at her handy work. Not too bad, but she’s forgetting something. Fake Kaia’s eyelids start moving and Claire realizes what she forgot. She flings herself across the room, rips a pillowcase off one of the pillows and cuts it into pieces. Some of it she stuffs in Fake Kaia’s mouth, the longest strip she uses as a gag. Then she sits back in her chair and waits.

It takes another minute for Fake Kaia to be fully conscious again. When the fog clears from her eyes, it’s replaced by fire. Claire can almost feel the hate and anger scorching her. Fake Kaia tests her bonds, but stops when they stay in place, and goes back to glaring at Claire.

‘I’d take off the gag, but I have a feeling you’re not gonna tell me anything, no matter how politely I ask,’ Claire says. ‘Not before it’s too late for Kaia, anyway.’

Even with the gag, Fake Kaia’s laugh is harsh and grating.

‘That’s what I thought.’ Claire stands up. She considers killing Fake Kaia for a moment, but if she doesn’t find her Kaia soon, she’ll have to try to get some info from this one. Everybody wants something, even if it’s just to not die. She grabs her bags, and with a final look at Fake Kaia, she steps out of the room, locks it, and makes her way to her car.

After shoving her bag out of sight between the backseat and the front passenger seat, she opens up the boot of the car. A hunter in Illinois helped her put in a compartment for her weapons. It’s not very big, but even so, it’s still pretty empty, containing only the essentials: a shotgun, salt, a couple lighters, flashlights and batteries, extra bullets for her gun, rope, handcuffs, a couple extra knives of varying metals, and a first aid kit. She’s sure it’ll fill up as she continues hunting. Maybe one day it’ll be as full as the Impala’s. She grabs the empty duffel bag shoved into the corner, and fills it with the first aid kit, rope, and the shotgun. She’s already got a knife and her gun tucked into her clothes. She slams the boot of the car closed and shoulders the bag. Now what?

Kaia definitely left that note herself, and since Fake Kaia had food with her, her Kaia was probably ambushed on her way back. Which means that she needs to know where the nearest diner is. She walks over to the office.

‘Hiya.’ The guy from last night is gone. Instead, there is a middle-aged woman with big hair sitting behind the desk. She has a warm, beaming smile, and seems genuinely happy to see her. ‘What can I help you with, sweetheart?’

Claire resists the urge to roll her eyes at the pet name, and tries to copy the woman’s friendly smile on her own face. ‘My friend and I are staying in room 7. She went out to get breakfast, but forgot the coffee.’ She pulls a face to show her disappointment and the woman hums in sympathy. ‘Can you point me to the nearest diner?’

‘Of course.’ The woman bustles out from behind the desk and gently guides Claire outside. She points to the road. ‘Jimmy’s is just a ten-minute walk that way. Their coffee is always good and strong. Exactly what you need in the early morning.’

Claire nods and thanks the woman. She forces herself not to shrug off the pat on the shoulder the woman gives her as a goodbye.

With the diner only ten minutes away, there won’t be many spots Fake Kaia could’ve lured or dragged her Kaia off the road. Which means that Kaia must be close by. Gripping the strap of her bag tightly, Claire crosses the road to the woods they burned the vampire in. The side of the road the motel is on has the motel, surrounded by some line of trees, then nothing but fields on either side. Can’t really hide a body, living or dead, in an open field.

The air smells fresh from the morning dew. The earth by the side of the road is soft, and Claire can see the imprint of Kaia’s sneakers where she stepped off the asphalt and into the mud a couple times. She hasn’t gone far before she comes to a spot where there’s a mess of footprints criss-crossing each other, flattening the dirt, leaves and twigs and mud kicked onto the road. Claire’s chest tightens and she clenches her jaw as she steps into the forest, the smell of wet mulch and trees instantly enveloping her. There isn’t much undergrowth, aside from the occasional patch of grass where there’s a little more space between the trees, and it’s easy to follow the drag marks. Fake Kaia didn’t even try to cover them up.

After a muddy track that feels like an eternity, Claire comes to a small hole in the earth, the abandoned den of an animal. It’s no longer abandoned, though. Kaia’s sneakers stick out, pale against the dark brown of the forest floor. Claire drops to her knees and gently pulls Kaia out, letting her bag slip off her shoulder. Kaia’s wrists and ankles are bound, similar to how Claire tied up Fake Kaia, and there’s a gag tied over her mouth. Her eyes are closed and there’s a trickle of blood running from underneath her hair onto her forehead.

‘Kaia,’ Claire whispers, her voice shaking. She brushes the hair off Kaia’s face, then moves her hand to Kaia’s jaw to check for a pulse. It thumps steadily against Claire’s fingers. ‘Kaia, it’s me, Claire.’

Kaia groans and twitches, but doesn’t open her eyes.

Claire sits her up against a tree. She takes the gag out of Kaia’s mouth and cuts the ropes. Prodding gently, she tries to find the source of the blood on Kaia’s face. When she finds it, Kaia’s eyes fly open with a whimper. They’re unfocused and flit around until they land on Claire’s face.

‘Sorry,’ Claire says. ‘Sorry it took me so long.’

‘I– It’s okay,’ Kaia says. As she sits up a little more against the tree and starts looking around. The blood draining out of her face when she moves her head.

‘You probably have a concussion, and you’ve been lying here for at least twenty minutes, so give yourself a moment,’ Claire says. She curses herself for not thinking of bringing some water and maybe a granola bar.

‘You don’t have a moment.’

Claire stares at Kaia in confusion. She didn’t see her lips move. And the words seemed to come from behind her. _Shit._ She turns around, hand going to the gun at her back. She barely gets it out before something connects with her head. She catches a glimpse of Fake Kaia’s snarl, then everything goes dark.

~

‘No!’

The scream pulls Claire back to the light. She’s on her side, in the dirt. Her temple throbs. She can’t have been out for more than a second, though, because Kaia, _her_ Kaia, is stepping over her and launches at Fake Kaia.

Claire pushes herself up. The world tilts as her head gives a vicious throb in protest, then settles. She moves a hand to her back for the gun, finding nothing but her shirt and her skin. Right, she’d already pulled it. It must’ve gone flying when Fake Kaia hit her. She looks around, but can’t find it, and there’s no time to look for it between in piles of old leaves and broken branches. She pulls the duffel bag towards herself, and pulls out the shotgun and shells. She loads, turns to where the two Kaias are fighting, and aims. She tries to figure out which of the Kaias is hers, but with both girls now dirty and bloody, it’s impossible for her to tell. Even if she could, the shotgun would still hit both of them. Claire lowers her gun. All she can do is watch and hope the right Kaia wins.

The two girls shove and pull at each other, neither of them getting the space they need to get in a good punch or a kick. There’s the flash of light glinting on metal, and then it’s gone. One of the Kaias stumbles back, clutching at her side. The other Kaia pulls out the knife and stabs again, aiming higher, stabbing harder, screaming. The hurt Kaia stumbles back another step, trips over her feet, and falls down. She tries to get up, presses down on her wounds, then stills. Everything is quiet for a moment, like the world is holding its breath.

The Kaia still standing takes a step away from the body, dropping the knife. She turns to Claire.

Which Kaia is it? Aside from one being alive and the other dead, both girls look exactly the same now. Bloody and dirt-streaked, clothes torn, leaves and twigs stuck in their dark curls. Claire sets her jaw, hardens her gaze, and raises the shotgun.

‘Claire?’

‘How do I know which one you are? How do I know you’re m– the real Kaia?’

The girl’s shoulders slump and she nods. Like she understands. Like she wouldn’t blame her if Claire shot her. It’s almost enough to convince her.

‘I haven’t always been human,’ Claire blurts out.

Kaia looks confused, then her expression clears with understanding. ‘You were a Werewolf, but you got better,’ she says.

Hope fills Claire’s chest, but she doesn’t lower her gun yet. She wants to believe that she can have this. Just this once. ‘Can you show me your arms?’

Kaia freezes, looks like she’s about to refuse, then slowly, hesitantly, pulls up her sleeves. There are fresh scratches on her arms and the skin around her wrists is still red from the rope burn, but the ragged scars that Claire had seen the night before are as clear as day.

Claire blows out her breath and lowers her gun. ‘Thank fuck,’ she whispers. She feels dizzy from the rush of relief, and lets herself fall on her butt as her legs give out from under her.

Kaia rushes over. Her sleeves fall back down again, covering the scars, even her hands. That sweater is far too big on her. A giggle escapes Claire and she presses a hand over her mouth. Kaia looks at her like she’s insane, which only causes Claire to laugh harder. Then Kaia starts laughing.

‘This is so fucked up,’ she giggles as she sits down next to Claire.

‘I know,’ Claire pants. ‘But I can’t stop.’

Their laughter lasts until reality rushes back to them, which happens far too soon. A final giggle pushes itself out of Claire, then she looks over at where Fake Kaia is lying dead.

‘Do we burn her?’ Kaia asks.

Claire nods. ‘We have to.’ She looks around. ‘It’s gonna be a bitch to find dry wood here this early in the morning.’

‘We should probably get started, then.’

As Kaia goes off to collect the wood, Claire makes a quick trip back to her car for accelerant, salt, and a lighter. It takes a long time before they have enough wood, but they’ve finally built a small pyre and with a little extra accelerant, they light it. The Vampire had burned quickly, but it takes hours before Fake Kaia is burned up enough that they can take apart the pyre and bury the ashes. After making sure they’ve cleaned up everything as best they can and found Claire’s gun, they wrap their arms around each other for support and stumble their way back to the motel.

‘Do you want to go back to the room, or leave?’ Claire asks when they reach the road. ‘Everything’s packed and I have the car keys.’

‘Uhm.’ Kaia looks down at herself, then at Claire, and raises her eyebrows.

They look like they stepped off the set of a slasher movie, scratched up, clothes torn, and covered in dirt, blood, and soot. They probably don’t smell too great either. Claire barely resists the urge to smell her shirt to confirm that suspicion.

‘Good point,’ she says, huffing out a laugh.

Sore and aching, they sprint to the car to get Claire’s things, and then to their room as fast as they can, collapsing against the door with laughter when they slam it closed behind them. Kaia is leaning heavily against Claire, a warm weight pressed against her side. A very smelly weight.

‘You smell like a gym in a butcher shop,’ Claire says, wrinkling her nose. She instantly regrets it when Kaia jumps up, taking her warmth with her.

‘First shower!’ Kaia yells, and runs to the bathroom. She throws Claire a smile as she slams the door.

‘Not fair!’ Claire shouts after her. She doesn’t actually mind, though. Kaia’s day so far has been a lot rougher than hers.

Claire drags herself onto her feet and takes a quick survey of the room. It’s pretty much as she left it, food on the table, chairs next to it, bed made. The cords and improvised gag are lying discarded on the floor. She throws her bags onto the bed, already getting out the toiletries when Kaia sheepishly opens the door a crack to ask for them. With the shower running in the background, she clears away the reminders of Fake Kaia. She swipes the food into its plastic bag and dumps it in the trash. It might be fine, but Fake Kaia was alone with it for longer than she’s comfortable with. She takes the cords for the lamp and tv, and arranges them by their proper appliance to make it look like they’re still attached. There’s nothing she can do about the pillowcase, so she dumps the strips of fabric in the trash with the food.

By the time Kaia comes out of the bathroom, Claire is ready to drop. That final rush of adrenaline from their race to the room has worn off. Her head and shoulder are throbbing; she’s going to have some big bruises. The lukewarm water soothes her sore muscles a little, and makes her even more drowsy. She barely dries herself off before changing into sweats and a t-shirt, and falls out of the bathroom, onto the bed. She curls up, but Kaia’s pained hiss has her sitting up again.

‘Come here,’ she says, patting the space next to her. To her surprise, Kaia doesn’t argue, but grabs the first-aid kit and sits down on the bed.

Claire finishes cleaning the scratches on Kaia’s arm, and puts band-aids on the worst of them. Then she gently searches for the head wound. It’s just past Kaia’s hairline and pretty small. As long as Kaia is careful with brushing and washing her hair, she should be fine. They stuff everything back into the first-aid kit, drop the box on the floor, then both yawn at the same time.

‘Time for sleep,’ Claire decides. She crawls under the covers, her eyes already closed, the eyelids too heavy. She smiles when there’s a pull on the sheets as Kaia slides in next to her.

‘Thank you,’ Kaia whispers.

‘Told you,’ Claire mumbles. ‘Weird shit is what we do.’

‘Yeah.’ Kaia is quiet for a moment, then says, ‘I’m scared I’ll see her. The other me. When I close my eyes.’

Claire opens her eyes. Kaia is lying on her side, facing her, her hands tucked under the pillow. Claire reaches for them and folds them into her own. ‘You probably will,’ she says honestly.

‘Will it get easier?’

‘It helps to think of the people you saved. You saved yourself, and who knows how many other people. We don’t know what she was planning.’

‘Maybe the apocalypse.’

‘It’s not May yet,’ Claire says. She smiles at Kaia’s adorably confused frown. ‘I’ll explain later.’

‘Okay.’

Claire closes her eyes again and burrows a little deeper beneath the covers. The last thing she registers before falling asleep is Kaia moving their hands so their fingers are tangled together.

~

They don’t sleep for long, because of Kaia’s possible concussion, and also because their stomachs are growling, begging for food. They quickly get dressed, Kaia borrowing clothes from Claire since her own clothes are officially and completely ruined, and pack their things. Claire checks out as Kaia puts the bags in the car. The day clerk waves them both a cheery farewell when they drive off, and Claire feels a little bit guilty about the lamp and the tv.

They make a stop at the diner for a late lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches, pancakes, and coffee. Claire can’t keep her eyes off Kaia as they eat. Now that the whole mess with the Bad Place double is over, the girl looks more relaxed, the bruises under her eyes faded a little, and she’s smiling. The smiles are small and gone far too soon, but also soft and beautiful. And there’s something about Kaia wearing her clothes, seeing Kaia’s hands disappear into the sleeves of one of Claire’s own sweaters, that makes Claire’s chest feel too small for her heart.

‘What?’ Kaia asks.

‘What?’

‘You’re staring.’ One of her smiles flits across her face.

‘I… Uhm… I was just wondering, did you dream last night?’ Claire asks. She had been wondering about that, though not at the moment. She’d been wondering if Kaia liked movies.

‘I didn’t,’ Kaia says, shaking her head. ‘It doesn’t happen every night. Just most.’

‘Or maybe I’m your lucky charm.’ Claire grins and waggles her eyebrows. ‘I did also save you from your doppelganger.’

Kaia raises her eyebrows, the beginning of a smile pulling at her lips. ‘And then I saved you back, remember?’ Now there’s a full-blown smirk on her lips and Claire’s heart somersaults. ‘Because you were lying useless in the dirt.’

‘Fine, we saved each other,’ Claire huffs with an eyeroll. She nudges Kaia’s foot with her own. ‘Maybe we’re each other’s lucky charm.’

‘Sounds good.’ Kaia traps Claire’s foot with her legs, and they stay like that until they’re finished.

They order burgers, fries, and a couple bottles of water for the road, leave the waitress a big tip for keeping their coffee cups full, and get back to the car. Before driving off, Claire calls Jody to let her know she’s bringing someone with her. Jody doesn’t ask too many questions, probably because it’s easier to interrogate and scold her in person. It’s only a couple hours to Sioux Falls so she’ll get the chance soon enough.

‘I hope you’re ready to be mothered by Jody and Alex, because there won’t be any escaping it,’ Claire says as she pulls onto the road.

‘That doesn’t sound so bad.’

Claire can see it coming, but she still jumps when Kaia places her hand on the one Claire has on the gearshift. She quickly tangles their fingers together before Kaia can pull away. She glances at Kaia and smiles.

‘Yeah, they’re not so bad.’

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [tumblr](http://fandom-madnessess.tumblr.com/).

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Had To Go Away To Find Home by hazelNuts [art]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16232786) by [5pm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/5pm/pseuds/5pm), [hazelNuts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazelNuts/pseuds/hazelNuts)




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